Several agricultural businesses were winners at the recent Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce Achievement for Business Excellence awards. Bioriginal Food and Science Corp. of Saskatoon was named business of the year and exporter of the year. Bioriginal produces and sells nutritional supplements, cosmetics, pet and veterinary products, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and functional foods. It specializes in essential […] Read more
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Agriculture wins business awards
Larger trains attracting big freight discounts
Freight rate discounts being offered by the railways this year will provide more incentive to grain companies to ship grain in large car blocks from high throughput elevators. That could accelerate the trend of recent years that has seen a rapidly growing percentage of prairie grain shipped in 50- and 100-car blocks. The new rates […] Read more
Mosaic best managed with seeding changes
MORDEN, Man. – Of all the diseases that can threaten winter wheat, wheat streak mosaic is one of the more important ones. The viral disease tends to stunt the growth of infected plants, resulting in fewer seeds that are often badly shrivelled. The best way to manage against that threat is to eliminate what Manitoba […] Read more
Venture fund would target value-added agriculture
Labour and agribusiness leaders have joined forces in a plan to boost investment and create jobs in rural Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and Saskatchewan Agrivision Corp. have reached agreement to set up a labour-sponsored venture capital fund designed to help finance new agriculture-related businesses. The public would be able to invest in the […] Read more
Investor wants pool ownership cap lifted
The 10 percent limit on ownership of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool shares is hurting the company’s financial health, says one of its major stockholders. “It’s a huge issue,” said Greg Boland, a Toronto-based institutional money manager whose clients own 10 percent of the pool’s 175 million non-voting B shares. The negative impacts of the ownership limit […] Read more
Nutrient deficiency in spring cuts yield
MORDEN, Man. – Winter wheat growers were reminded recently of the important role phosphorus and potassium play in crop development. Winter wheat needs a lot of nitrogen to reach its full yield potential. But Adrian Johnston, Western Canada director for the Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada, said growers sometimes increase nitrogen applications without giving […] Read more
Poultry sector seeks universal access rules
The supply-managed sector is not the anti-trade, closed market enclave its free trade critics accuse it of being, say poultry sector leaders. They told MPs on the House of Commons agriculture committee Oct. 30 that supply management sectors look to world trade talks to preserve their tariff-protected system, but also to expand trade in most […] Read more
Organic certifier removed from agrologists’ group
A director of one of the largest organic certification companies in Canada is no longer a member of the professional agrology body in the province where his business is based. The Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists says it has revoked the membership of Wally Hamm, of OCPP-Pro-Cert Canada, for refusing to follow actions set forth by […] Read more
Biennial wormwood returns
MORDEN, Man. – Crop producers in Manitoba are advised to be on the lookout next year for biennial wormwood, a native weed that appears to be making a comeback. The weed was evident from Boissevain in southwestern Manitoba to Winnipeg this year, according to Brian Hunt, a weed control specialist with Manitoba Agriculture He said […] Read more
Lobbies want closer contact with trade negotiators
Trade negotiators like to say that in trade agreements, the devil is in the detail and last week, the Senate agriculture committee heard how true that is. In some cases, that detail devil wears cotton knit gloves. During an appearance before the committee Oct. 28, leaders of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance cited a long […] Read more
